UAE: State-owned oil company employees allegedly given formal roles in COP28 office
"UAE oil company employees given roles in office hosting Cop28", 3 February 2023
At least a dozen employees from the United Arab Emirate’s state-owned oil company have apparently taken up roles with the office of the UAE’s climate change special envoy, who will host this year’s Cop28 UN climate summit.
The revelation adds to growing concerns over the potential for blurred lines between the team hosting this year’s crucial summit and the oil-rich country’s influential fossil fuel industry.
The officials were apparently working in the UAE’s oil and gas industry immediately before taking up roles in the Cop28 team, according to an analysis of LinkedIn accounts by the independent investigative group Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR), and seen by the Guardian.
Among the officials are two former Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) engineers who will act as negotiators on behalf of the UAE at the conference, despite their LinkedIn profiles suggesting they may not have a background in international climate diplomacy...
The findings follow the recent announcement that Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the chief executive of Adnoc, will preside over the conference in November while retaining his role at the oil company...
Adnoc did not respond to questions about its ties to the envoy...
Shortly after Jaber was announced as the Cop28 president last month, the US public relations agency Edelman emailed scores of journalists touting the UAE’s investment in renewable energy...the agency had been hired to work on Cop28 through its engagement with the Emirati renewable energy company Masdar.
Masdar is owned by Adnoc, another state-owned fossil fuel company called Taqa and an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Edelman has not disclosed how much it is being paid for the work...